11 replies to this topic

[Boo]

Welcome to the OtakuBoards Tutorials and other useful stuff! thread!

This thread is to serve as the general starters point for any beginning artist visiting OtakuBoards. So the idea is that this thread will be an ever-growing bunk of information to help you on your way!

Also, in the nearby future you will see a variety of tutorials popping up, covering all sorts of subjects in all sorts of art media. These tutorials are made by our very own members and are meant to help you, but also to share ideas and start discussions on how things are done!

I'd like to encourage everybody to post up their own tutorials and to comment on the tutorials of others, but also to share links to tutorials you thought are helpful and are anywhere else on the internet, and sites to free fonts/brushes et cetera! I'll link to everything in this very post. Also, feel free to give suggestions and ask any questions, about the tutorials or any general question about art!

Tutorials on OtakuBoards:

• Quick Coloring in Photoshop by Kei
• Cleaning Scans in Photoshop by Kei
• Lineart With the Pen Tool by Katana
• Sprites - Recolouring (using MS Paint) by
• Faking transparency in a banner by Delta
• Translucent Objects and Eyes by Inkwolf
• How to make glow lines in Photoshop by SarahPatricia
• Lighting tutorial using Photoshop by Katie!
• Banner/Tag tutorial using Photoshop by Katie!
• Banner/Tag tutorial 2 using Photoshop by Katie!

Helpful resources:

• Da Font - a website with tons of free fonts to use.
• 1001 Free Fonts - another website loaded with free fonts.

Learn stuff!

Edited by Boo, 27 March 2012 - 07:40 PM.

[eleanor]

Comments on Kei's tutorial, which is mostly just comments to beginning artists who want to be able to "cel-shade" and do impressive digital art.

TBQH, Kei's tutorial is the work of a beginning digital artist, and imo beginning artists should not make tutorials for other beginning artists. To all aspiring anime artists and etc., you won't become a great cartoonist if you're do not have a solid base in realism. You won't become a great colorist unless you have a solid knowledge, an extensive practice, of color theory and values-- and these are elements of arts that students should learn after developing good skills at at least figure drawing (proportions, dimensions, anatomy). The problem with two-tone cel shading is that people will look at anime shows or official anime art and simply place blocks of color where it "looks right." They have the basic understanding of how there is a light source, and that it creates shadows, but they do not see or understand where to place highlights, shadows, midtones, reflective shadows/lights, etc. If you choose to develop color theory and use of values on the computer, that is fine, but your aim should be to create non-cel-shaded works and build a real understanding of facial/body planes and how light hits and reflects off of the body. Good sources for any beginning artist are the Loomis books (do a quick Google search), which covers all drawing basics. If you're interested in obtaining the books, PM me and I'll be more than welcome to help you out.

To those who draw for entertainment and don't care about improvement-- you can totally disregard everything I've said. But to those who want to really amaze other people with their art and better themselves, starting with anime/cartoons is a cool headway into interest of art but you will never become great at it without training yourself.

Edited by eleanor, 13 June 2010 - 05:57 PM.

[Kei]

The purpose of the tutorials here are to give people an idea of how to use the tools they have available and are created by the users here to provide some sort of base form for them to go off of. Nobody has to be a professional to try and lend a hand. You are correct that people can look up sources and material to better themselves, but this project involves users of all skill levels here at OB. Therefore, any tutorial made by any member will be accepted and sourced here.

[Boo]

Firstly this:

The purpose of the tutorials here are to give people an idea of how to use the tools they have available and are created by the users here to provide some sort of base form for them to go off of. Nobody has to be a professional to try and lend a hand. You are correct that people can look up sources and material to better themselves, but this project involves users of all skill levels here at OB. Therefore, any tutorial made by any member will be accepted and sourced here.

But for the rest, everyone is welcome to share their own ideas to help (beginning) artists improve their work or just broaden their horizon or something. So, Lunox' post is helpful as it is, even though I don't share her vision that "beginning artists should not make tutorials for other beginning artists." Thanks, I guess. 8D

Edited by Lady Shy, 14 June 2010 - 03:17 AM.

[eleanor]

The purpose of the tutorials here are to give people an idea of how to use the tools they have available and are created by the users here to provide some sort of base form for them to go off of. Nobody has to be a professional to try and lend a hand. You are correct that people can look up sources and material to better themselves, but this project involves users of all skill levels here at OB. Therefore, any tutorial made by any member will be accepted and sourced here.

I know I'm treading thin ice here, because I sincerely did not want to offend anyone or make them feel bad about their work. By no means is my opinion the right way, because there are hundreds of routes artists take to get to where they are. My post was simply what I thought is the best and quickest way, which I thought was appropriate for the thread itself, which is to provide resources and advice to artists.

Additionally I never meant to sound like I was saying your tutorial shouldn't be accepted here, what I was saying was that I don't think it's the best way to go about learning (again, just my opinion). And that being said, as Lady Shy pointed out, I don't see anything wrong or flagrantly offensive with my post because I was simply giving people what I think is the best advice for beginning artists.

Hypothetically, I would provide hypothetical drawing guides/books, but since that would be really illegal I hypothetically suggest anyone interested in them to just PM me.

Edited by eleanor, 15 June 2010 - 08:00 PM.

[James]

I would suggest, if anyone thinks this is a good idea, to actually link to our own member-created tutorials as well as some professional ones. Perhaps it might be fun to have two categories that we link to from this topic? After all, our members have a range of skills and sit at a range of levels.

In terms of what is best for learning, though...I really think that'll be up to each member themselves to decide. Having actually studied graphic design myself, I think it's fair to say that many fan artists on the web aren't looking at this as a career but as a hobby. A grounding in colour theory and composition and so on (fundamentals of design, it might be called) is wonderful...but if your goal is just to create a beautiful wallpaper as a hobby, then I don't think it really matters much.

Also, there will be a lot of amateur artists who simply want to learn the most basic elements of Photoshop for fun; in which case, these tutorials are also valuable. I'm really happy with them and I'd love to see more!

[Boo]

I would suggest, if anyone thinks this is a good idea, to actually link to our own member-created tutorials as well as some professional ones. Perhaps it might be fun to have two categories that we link to from this topic? After all, our members have a range of skills and sit at a range of levels.

Was thinking of that myself as well, but I only used one tutorial in my life and that one was for spriting, so I'm not that good in finding them / telling which are badawesome for beginners. But! Feel free to submit links to tuts that you felt are helpful! ("You" being the entire OB community)

EDIT: Okay, so I edited the first post! I think the thread could have a different, more catchy, name, but what? Something like "Help Center" or "THE GENESIS OF ART" or "Tuts, FAQ and Resources" or I dunno. HELP.

Edited by Lady Shy, 30 June 2010 - 02:05 PM.

[James]

This is looking awesome - I'm really happy to see more tutorials appearing. Great stuff.

[SarahPatricia]

I dunno if this thread is still alive but I posted a tuto :3

How to make glow lines in Photoshop

[Boo]

I completely never noticed that tutorial for some reason... Sorry, SarahPatricia and thanks for the cool addition to this little project of sorts!

[Katie!]

I have a variety of tutorials that I've done over the years, on another forum, but feel free to link to 'em.

tag basics tutorial
tag tutorial
tag tutorial

as you can see, I was very good with words in my youth.

Edited by Katie!, 27 March 2012 - 06:11 PM.

[Boo]

I have a variety of tutorials that I've done over the years, on another forum, but feel free to link to 'em.

W00t, done!